Exam View: 03 May 2018 Current Affairs

Current Affair of 03 May 2018, Exam View.

National

GST receipts cross ₹1 lakh cr. in April

Revenue from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for April 2018 has finally crossed the ₹1 lakh crore threshold, coming in at ₹1,03,458 crore, according to official data released on Tuesday.
This represents a tipping point in the GST collections in India and indicates that the tax collections are stabilising.
Goods and Service Tax was introduce across the country on July 1, 2017.

14 Cities In India are World’s most polluted

New Delhi, Gwalior, Varanasi and Kanpur were among the 14 Indian cities that figured in a list of 20 most polluted cities in the world, based on their toxic air quality, data released by World Health Organization showed.
Other Indian cities that registered very high levels of PM2.5 – tiny particulate matter that reaches deep into the lungs – were Faridabad, Gaya, Agra, Patna, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur. All top ten cities on PM 2.5 are in India.
The WHO report, however, stated countries are making efforts and taking measures in this context, referring to the central government’s Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. The scheme, it said, in just two years has provided 37 million women living below the poverty line with free LPG connections to support them to switch to clean household energy use. India targets to reach 80 million households by 2020.
PM 2.5 includes pollutants like sulfate, nitrate and black carbon.

eOffice system launched by Hyderabad police

The Hyderabad city police today launched the eOffice System in the city Police Commissionerate office as a citizen-friendly initiative.
eOffice is a ‘product suit’ developed by NIC and it aims at handling files in a more efficient and transparent manner to improve the responsiveness to citizens. The system helps in faster clearance of files and it envisions a paper-less office.

Commission clears connectivity in flights

Telecom Commission approved a proposal for allowing mobile phone calls and internet services in domestic and international flights in India.
Major airlines, including Air India and Vistara, today welcomed the Telecom Commission’s decision.
Globally, many airlines are already offering wi-fi for passengers, but they currently have to switch off the facility when they enter the Indian airspace.

AirAsia, Air France, British Airways, Egypt Air, Emirates, Air New Zealand, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic are amongst 30 airlines that are already allowing mobile phone use on aircraft.
The Trai recommendations came after Department of Telecom, on August 2017, sought its views over a proposal to introduce voice, data and video services over Indian airspace for domestic, international and overflying flights in Indian airspace

BUSINESS

RBI allowed FPIs to invest in treasury bills

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed foreign portfolio investors (FPI) to invest in shorter maturity Government bonds such as treasury bills, subject to the 20 percent overall limit for investments in government securities as well as corporate bonds of less than one year maturity .
Treasury bills, popularly known as T-bills, are securities (bonds) maturing in below less than one year, sold by the Central Government.
FPIs are permitted to invest in treasury bills issues by the Central Government.
The 20 percent investment norm on bonds across categories is applied on a continuous basis

SCIENCE

NASA to track Earth’s ice and water

NASA is gearing up for the upcoming launch of its Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission, which will map changes in water and ice around the world by detecting variations in Earth’s gravity.

The mission will map changes in water and ice around the world by detecting variations in Earth’s gravity & it involves 2 identical spacecraft that will orbit the Earth.

The mission is a joint project between NASA and the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, Germany.

India & Japan to work together for energy security, climate change issues

India and Japan have agreed to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in energy development space as well as contribute to worldwide energy security and solutions to climate change issues.
Both countries agreed to initiate a discussion on electric vehicles (EVs) and work together in promoting well-functioning energy markets
India and Japan also reiterated the continued importance of coal-based electricity generation in the energy mix in both the countries and also agreed to promote the cooperation on environmental measures for coal-fired power plants.

APPOINTMENTS

Subhash Chandra appointed as IRDAI Chairman

Former IAS officer Subhash Chandra Khuntia appointed as the new Chairman of Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) for three-years.
Khuntia will succeed T S Vijayan, who completed his five-year term in February.
He(Khuntia) was a 1981-batch Karnataka cadre officer.
He was also Chief Secretary of Karnataka.

Harendra Singh to coach men’s hockey team

Hockey India has appointed Harendra Singh as coach of India’s men’s team, while Sjoerd Marijne will take over as chief coach of women’s side.

Harendra led the junior men’s hockey team to the World Cup title in 2016.

Before joining the Indian women’s team, Marijne had a successful tenure with the Netherlands’ women’s team.